Inflammation Key to Belly Fat 's Unhealthy Effects
 (HealthDayNews, 3/31/05)

Tongjian You of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, and colleagues, assessed the abdominal fat of 20 post-menopausal women whose waistlines measured over 35 inches. The team checked for three artery-damaging proteins which fat tissue produces: interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha, which promote inflammation and plasminogen activator inhibitor, which promotes blood clots. They also tested for two beneficial proteins: adiponectin, an anti-inflammatory, and leptin, an energy metabolism regulator. Eight of the subjects had metabolic syndrome—a cluster of symptoms including obesity, high cholesterol and hypertension—and these women also had lower adiponectin levels than the 12 who did not have the disorder. Since metabolic syndrome is linked with higher cardiac risk, these findings suggest that when an individual has body fat that produces low levels of adiponectin, the person's risk of heart disease may increase. Scientists are currently studying how drugs, diet and/or exercise may alter the levels of proteins manufactured by fat tissue.

 (American Journal of Physiology, April 2005;
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, news release, 3/28/05)